Monthly archive

There are many who disapprove of their politics but they deserve unreserved admiration of the entire nation as it recovers from the trauma of a brazen terror attack on Mumbai. They are a handful of VIP politicians who move about almost like the ‘aam admi’ (common man) sans the layers of security cover without which others of their tribe will never venture out of their homes. These ‘odd’ VIPs include Prakash Karat, A.B. Bardhan and Mamata Bannerjee, who are the bosses of the CPI (M), CPI and Trinamool Congress respectively.

Leading tour operators in Palestine are a disappointed lot due to the difficulties they face in sending tourist groups to Sri Lanka as the flights from Amman to Colombo are always full. Finding flight space for large groups is almost impossibility.So far only two big groups had been to Sri Lanka this year even though the demand is very high.With the opening of the Representative Office of Sri Lanka in Palestine there was wide publicity for Sri Lanka in Palestinian media and in addition to that a teledrama called Noor filmed in Sri Lanka shown in Palestine for a few months gave the widest coverage to the scenic beauty of Sri Lanka. Now the Palestinians young and old who had seen this teledrama are keen to visit Sri Lanka and see for themselves the locations of this teledrama and the country in general.

Kashmir is the unfinished agenda of partition of India in 1947. India not only treacherously occupied two-third of Kashmir by force but also failed to implement the 1948 UNSC Resolution of holding a plebiscite to determine the wishes of the people of Kashmir whether they wanted to be part of Pakistan or India. The Kashmiris kept demanding this right but their voices were suppressed through use of brute force. After 42 years of political struggle when the Kashmiris lost all hopes of an amicable solution, they decided to pick up arms in 1989 and confronted the Indian security forces. Tens of militant groups including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and Hizbul Mujahideen emerged in occupied Kashmir during nineties to achieve freedom from the shackles of India.

In a despatch by the ILO Sri Lanka Office released the statement issued by Juan Somavia, Director General of the Internatinal Labour Office on the occasion of International Migrants Day. It said that they recognize the 200 million international migrants, 50 per cent of whom are women and men migrant workers. Ms Somavia indicated that these workers have left their homes and communities to find work and better opportunities elsewhere in the world to support their families and communities. They make huge but often unrecognized contributions to growth and development of both their host countries and home communities.

25 years old Mr. Shravan Kumar becomes very happy when he sees his growing agriculture fields. He did his post-graduation and Bachelor of Education form Gorakhpur. He says proudly, 'I love doing farming in my village rather than doing a job in the city. This way I can sustain myself and my 12 family members and also save about 8000 rupees annually.' He owns merely one acre of land, which is often troubled by floods. In this small piece of land he produces more than 20 varieties of crops. His village Laxmipur in Maharajganj district is in the Rohini River Basin and situated just 100 meters away from this river. This village faces heavy floods every year and almost all the crops are washed away. Mr. Kumar said,' Five years ago I had no idea how to manage crops in the monsoon season.

Before the shame that has brought by our arrogant PSO attached to state’s power minister settling down, another shame surfaced. This time is by the security personnel attached to another state minister holding health and family welfare. Look the way state power minister’s PSO could slap a Railways official manning the Railways crossing junction at Kamarbandha Railway Station, some 20 kilometers away from Golaghat, Assam in broad day light while the latter declined to open the crossing gate purportedly as another passenger train would be crossing the junction in a short while.

King Bhumibol AdulyadejThailand's new cabinet led by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was sworn in before the King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Monday. Abhisit, the Democrat Party leader who was elected as Thailand's 27th PM on Dec. 15 in a parliamentary voting session to replace the disqualified Somchai Wongsawat, led the other 35 cabinet members to take part in the oath-making ceremony in front of the King, which started on late Monday afternoon at Bangkok's royal residence of Chitralada Palace. In a short address to the new cabinet during the ceremony, the 81-year-old King urged the Abhisit cabinet to work to keep the country in peace, as "this is all Thais' wish." Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej on Monday asked the new Cabinet to maintain stability and order, which was the wish of every Thai.